The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-10-12

This was attributed to several causes: the
Sun attributes it to opium. Miss Jewett
was discovery OF the Union Square Thea
ire when A. NJ. Palmer managed it; and
her successes were confined to her connec-
ton with that theatre. Her reputation
was made there, and she did not add to it
after leaving that management. she was
very beautiful and had a fine physique
and graceful carriage, yet, after all, it was
the management that made her a success
full actress She did not possess genius,
and the good management of Mr.. Palmer
gave her talents opportunity and illustra-
ton.
The trouble with Miss JeUett lies deeper
than any opium habit; and it is at the bot
tom of the failures of a great many other
actresses. 1t is a curse to ths stage ITSELF
She was 'pitch-forked' onto the stage.
Her preparation for the profess ion was not
complete; she never learned the scale, so
to speak, of the true actress. She jumped
from the drawing-room to the boards. I'm
like Mrs Langtry, whose preparation was
even less than Miss Jewett's she had not
the great art of making social position or
notoriety an aid to money getting. Miss
Jewett actually believed she was an actress,
and really loved to act; Mrs. Langiry, on
The other hand, doesn't love acting at all
while she does love money, and seeks to
regain social position and leave the stage.
While under the management of Mr.. Pal
mer Miss Jewett was not permitted to make
mistakes, aud her defects were skillfully
concealed by her complete amalgamation
with the rest of the company. There she
was part of a harmonious whole; left to-
herself, her irregularities were made promi
nent, and she failed. How many such
''pitch-forked" actors and actresses have 1
seem
To attribute the success OF Sara Jewett aud
other actresses TO the management of the
theatres In which they appeared, may, at
first sight, seem very unjust, but not in
the eyes of thoughtful persons of the pro-
fesslon. They see 1t illustrated constant
ly. There are numerous instances of sue
cassful men and women leaving the two
schools of acting here-Daly's theatre and
Palm5rs Madison Square-and disappear.
ing from public view almost as soon as the
directing power and surrendering infiu-
ences are removed. Charles Thorne, the
leading man of Palmer's company, when
cisely the same way, out of the Union
Square theatre compeny-he was no longer
the same actor. He knew aud felt this
himself and shortly before his death he
said as much to me. George Clarke, who
left Daily to go starring, failed, aud was re-
engaged by Mr.. Daily on q special provis-
ion, as Clarke once laughingly told me,
that he was not to speak his lines in any
louder tones than Mr.. DAILY directed. Clara
Morris has managed to star
with some success, but she is not the
tress she was when Daily directed her
as part Of his company. Fanny Daven-
port, another graduate from Daiy's, is "a
great actress, but any one familiar with
Days methods OF management can see at
a glance at any of her performances, that
she retains his methods and has applied
them TO her own company. She made a
success in one part of Robert B. Mantell,
an actor ''pitch-forked" from English to
American boards, by requiring him to
play according TO her methods IS brought
from DAILY. Slipped out of her training In
huences, Manteil has developed into q rant
ing, uneven and unsklllful actor There
are nc managers more strict in their stage
discipline than DAILY and Palmer. The
former conducts his owD. rehearsals, reads
the play 10 the assembled company, ar
ranges the business, and alters it as altera-
lions are suggested by the movements and
the grouping of the actors, defines the
characters to the actors, and fixes the read
ing of every important line, even to the
information and emphasis Mr.. Palmer's
company is first rehearsed for the business
of play, generally by = Mr.. Mill ward, who
pays little attention to anything else than
| the proper grouping of the company.
| Then it is taken in hand by Mr.. G.. w.
! Presbury, who pays little attention to the
business. but looks with the greatest care
| to the reading and to the lights and shades
| of the characters as depicted,
! his aim being to make perfectly harmo-
| nious picture of the whole performance.
| The actors are allowed much latitude in
the business" when alone on the stage,
bnt not great deal in the Interpretation
| of character. In the end, Mr.. Palmer per-
sonally examines what Mr.. Presburg has
done, and makes suggestions, which are, of
course, at once adopted. and finally regu-
lar performance is given, with Mr.. Palmer
| as the only auditor. A final performance
of the new company which is to. play "Jim,
the Penman," was given at the Madison
| Square on Monday. 1t went through wi b
| only one interruption. Mr.. Baker, who
plays the detective, failed to Overturn a
table and break the ChinaSar on 1t, as he
is 10 do in the piece when publicly per.
formed. Stop" said Mr.. Palmer. do
that over again, and don't fail TO overturn
the table," 1t is ths care with which such
details are looked to that makes such near
ly perfect companies as those of DAILY and
Palmer / am told that Henry z Abbey
has secured in MIR. Robertson stage mana
ger of this new school; aud it is to be
hoped that he will make Wallacks theatre
school OF acting, as 1t was OF yore.
| mentioned some time ago that Dom
Piatt's book of Memoirs of the Men witt
Saved the Union" was about to be pub
lished, and that thought il would Great
q sensation; but 1 have bsen very mucl
astonished at the silence with which tn
American press has received it, and tn
very positive endorsements which to
foreign critical jouroals have given it. To
! London Graphic aud Saturday Rsviev
! | gave it admirable notices as a work whicl
gave a deer insight into the real character
OF the Unicn heroes; while the Westmin
ster Review is unstinted in Its praise
! | Speaking of the several articles, it says
Each is a powerful study of character
, sparkling with epigrsms and charged wi q
! moving incidents told in most felicitou
language. The object of the book is sal
Ito rescue the true from the false" and
: has been accomplished in mar
2 ner which must have made some livin
celebrities very unhappy. The writer hai
. to use his own words when cescribin
Seward, "a way Of tearing off the outsid
: and exposing the brain-stuffing of an lido
Sometimes his merciless demolition of
: popular fallscy concerning some fam0r
man startles the reader, but he invariabl
finds it couched in such calm and forcefT
language and supported by such potter
!, arguments that he Is fain to confess wit